Porsche has seen a slight decline in Asian markets recently, which was more than made up for with nice growth in every other market, accounting for a 3% total increase in unit sales for the first half of 2018 as compared to the first half of 2017. The company’s previous best financial first half was last year, and somehow the Porsche steam engine shows no signs of stopping. Aided by increasingly strong Macan and Cayenne sales, as well as incredible Panamera sales, Porsche is making more cars than ever thought possible.
Panamera models make up a substantial segment of Porsche’s sales with 20,500 units sold, nearly double the number of the sedan and wagon models sold last year. Porsche’s iconic 911, by contrast, is up 28% this year as more production was unlocked by the factory, to sell just slightly better than the Panamera at 21,400 units worldwide. The highest-volume series continue to be the Macan with 46,600 vehicles delivered and the Cayenne with 28,700 deliveries.
China is still the strongest market for Porsche, where it sold 33,363 units so far this year. This number is actually down 7% from 2017 numbers, due in part to a reduction of import tariffs which came into effect on July 1st. Presumably Chinese Porsche buyers were deferring their purchase until after the tariff was removed, and the post-delete sales will increase to reflect that number. The US market for Porsche grew nearly as much as China fell, making up 29,421 units of sales so far.
Detlev von Platen, Member of the Executive Board at Porsche AG:
“In the year of our ’70 years of Porsche sports cars’ anniversary, we are especially pleased that our icon, the 911, continues to enjoy a very strong momentum. That shows how strong and in demand our brand is.
“The political and economic situations in our main markets, especially in China and the USA, are considerable challenges at the moment. In Europe, we are preparing our model range for future emission standards. Due to our positive development in the first six months, we are nevertheless confident that we will reach last year’s high levels this year as well.”